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I love everything that goes into party planning from styling the interiors and the table for my guests to cooking up the perfect dishes to serve, and I am happy to share with you some great ideas and tips for creating a fun + festive Valentine’s Day brunch or dinner party .

When it comes to styling an interior or a holiday party for your family and/or friends there are a few key elements to think about. First off, figure out where you are going to set up your table and what type of backdrop you want to create to set the stage. I always love a visual backdrop whether it be a festive garland or something on a larger scale. Make a big impact by re-creating this eye catching flower wall hanging decor… you only need a few simple items and it’s surprisingly easy!

Start with cutting three different sizes of petals.The size of the petals depends on how big you want the flowers to be. Make slits, about 2 cm deep, at the bottom of each petal. Start working with largest petals. Place one end of the cut petal above the other and secure it with paper clip gun. Do the same with all other petals, by creating the groups of three. Start assembling two sets of each size of the petals. Glue three different sizes of petals on top of each other, and you will end up with a pretty looking flower. Fluff the petals by separating napkin layers. For this project I used 12 flowers.

Get a a round tray. Flip it back and layer it with a self adhesive marble look paper. Using self adhesive gold colour paper, draw and cut a little heart shape, and stick it in the middle of the tray. Start gluing the flowers around the tray edge. Your wall hanging decor is ready to by hung.

Make sure to check back tomorrow as we share all of the details fot this Valentine’s Day party theme.
Thank you for visiting.

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Noah’s pudding or Ashura is a combination of healthy ingredients such us whole grain wheat, beans, dried and fresh fruits. Usually it is prepared and consumed during the winter, and this is one of the sweets, in line of many, that is reminiscent of my childhood and cold snowy days.

As children, we would return home from sled ride, all gathered around the wood stove, and enjoyed a bowl of fragrant ashura pudding while, all hungry, were waiting for the supper to be served.

These sweet memories keep coming back to me very often, and I cherish them by taking time to make dishes and sweets that my mother used to make for us, although now I tend to use shortcuts to make those dishes.

After buying a slow cooker, I see myself using it more often than I anticipated.
I do all my stews and traditional dishes such us stuffed peppers, cabbage rolls, bean soups etc. in this “mother of efficiency pot”. I just throw the ingredients inside ( and do proper preparation for some dishes) the pot, select the temperature, turn it on and leave the house to do my work errands. After I am back, I come home and my dinner is ready. It doesn’t get any better that this.

The same way I prepare the Ashura. I add the wheat and water in to the pot, and after 5-6 hrs in a low setting my ashura is ready to be spiced up and garnished with dried and fresh fruits.

So here is my easy slow cooker (crock pot) recipe for ashura.

Add in the slow cooker:

250 gr whole grain wheat, rinsed
2 l water

Set the setting in high or medium (depending on your slow cooker modes) and set the timer for 5-6 hrs. After this cooking time the wheat is totally cooked and released the starch which has thickened the water.
Transfer the cooked wheat in a ceramic bowl and stir in the following ingredients:

200 gr prunes- previously cooked
100 gr raisins
3-4 medium apples – peeled, core removed and chopped or thinly sliced
30 gr candied ginger – chopped
2 table spoons cinnamon
1/2 tea spoon ground clove
200 gr brown sugar
You may add other dried fruit as desired, but I only had those stated above in my pantry.
Store it in the fridge and it is good up to a week.